The Miami Heat kept their perfect record in this year’s NBA playoffs alive with a 107-86 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday to begin the second round.
The Heat did a great job of sharing the ball in this game with 20 total team assists. LeBron James and Chris Bosh had three of those assists each with Dwyane Wade adding five of his own. James had 22 points in the win to go along with five rebounds. Bosh had 11 boards and 15 points. Ray Allen had a big game himself collecting 19 points including 4 of 7 on three-point attempts.
The game got underway with the Nets going on a 4-0 run and an eventual 7-2 lead after two minutes of play. The Heat quickly put a stop to that trend though and when the clock hit 8:33 remaining in the quarter; it was all tied up at nine. During that spurt by the Heat, Shane Battier who made the start sank a three-pointer as well. The teams then went on a spree of trading baskets for the remainder of the quarter. When the buzzer sounded, the Heat had a two-point lead at 22-20 after a three from Ray Allen.
The second quarter started fast for Miami with Norris Cole hitting a three-pointer only 24 seconds into the quarter to extend the lead to five. At the time, that was the biggest lead of the game for the Heat but they would improve on it. With 6:06 left in the quarter, James made a driving layup on an assist from Wade to put the Heat up by nine for the first of several times in the quarter. The Nets would tighten the gap to five with 2:21 left in the half before a timeout was taken by the Heat. Brooklyn would come as close as two points and at the end of the half, Miami held a three point lead at 46-43. It was looking like it would be a six point lead for the Heat but Deron Williams hit a three-pointer at the buzzer bringing back memories of Kemba Walker in round one.
The third quarter began a quick driving bank shot from Wade to pad the Miami lead to five points. The Nets would get the deficit back to three between a barrage of baskets from Battier and Bosh. Starting with 10:37 left in the quarter, all Miami points were scored by either of the two players for nearly the next five minutes. Wade put an end to the Battier-Bosh run with a jump shot at the 5:54 remaining point. During that run, Bosh and Battier each hit a three-pointer. That onslaught along with baskets from Wade and James following it gave Miami a commanding 14-point lead with 4:25 left in the quarter. The Heat increased the leads to 16 before a three-pointer near the buzzer once again went in from Williams. At the end of three, the score was 79-66 Miami.
Sports
In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, the Heat extended the lead back to 15 with a Wade jump shot. Miami would push the lead to 19 with 6:54 remaining on an Allen three-pointer. The lead would balloon to 20 with 4:47 remaining. At that point, Miami would never look back as it spent the final six minutes sealing the big victory.
Game 2 is set for Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. at the American Airlines Arena with the Heat looking to take a 2-0 lead in the series before heading to Brooklyn for two games.
